The Unexpected Discovery of the Half-Blood Gem
by thenormalsteven
Summary: When Peridot messages the Crystal Gems of the discovery of another half-blood Gem like Steven, the team sets out to protect their newest member, only to find that he's nothing like they expected...
1. Incoming Transmission

Steven pressed the square button on the curved little console, the screen flickering to life with the millennial graphics of an age-old classic: _Barber Shop Saga II: Tweezers in Time._

"Alrighty then, _Tweezers, _Hairspray Harold may have stopped me then, but he _ain't gonna stop me now!" _Steven challenged the little cartridge with a triumphant smirk on his face. He threw himself down atop the bean bag slumped against the bed, and with a steady hand on the controller, he began to barrel his way through the surge of raggedy-haired baddies.

By the time it was near midday, Steven had found himself face-to-face with the very first boss to stand in his way, the fearsome, almighty, undisputed king of unruly tangles and knots-

Suddenly, the whole Temple shook with the earth-shattering sound of a stone with a noise akin to a thousand cats simultaneously being skinned at once.

Amethyst came charging out of her room, hands clasped tightly over her ears. _"Not again!" _she wailed, as Garnet and Pearl followed in hot pursuit.

"Gems, you know what to do," Garnet ordered, nodding at each of them in return. In one swift leap, they bounded off the balcony towards Greg's van, Steven doing as best as he could to keep up with them as he followed them down the stairs (he was only _half_-Gem, after all).

As soon as they had the Stone wired up to the television screen, the Gems found themselves being shoved aside as the boy made room to get a good look for himself.

He shot a nervous glance back behind him, eyes aglitter like gaping crystal windows swung wide open into the deep blue. "What's going on? What's happening?" Steven blurted out, his eyes darting between the Gems and the screen.

Suddenly, the wailing turned to static, and the static turned to the most unholy sound the four of them had ever heard- the exasperated sounds of another Gem.

"_WHY didn't you TELL ME?!"_

The Gems gave a gasp in perfect unison, as they all blurted out in barely more than an astonished whisper, _"Peridot!"_

Pearl gave a vicious growl at the Homeworld intruder, taking a step forward with her spear pointed out. "What brings you to speak with us, Peridot?" Pearl demanded in a fluster, twirling her spear in her hand. "You are most _certainly_ not welcome here! We _know_ you're trying to defeat us!"

"I'm aware of _that_," Peridot grunted, ruffled in a way that was obvious to anyone. "What _I'm_ astonished by is that _you_ neglected to mention that there was _another_ half-blood out there!"

The Gems gave a gasp, turning to look at Steven.

Pearl's hair stuck up in a million different places, her voice coming out in barely more than a splutter. "You…you mean that there's… _another Steven?!_"

Steven's jaw dropped wide open. "…_WHAAAAAAAAAA-_"

Garnet cut him off from his astonishment, pressing a finger to her lip. "Quiet, Steven," she shushed him firmly, a grave look upon her face. "We _need_ to _hear_ this."

Pearl turned around once more to face the screen. "But…but that's _impossible!_ Rose was the _only_ Gem ever to breed with a human! There _can't_ be _more_ of them!"

"My _records_ would beg to differ," Peridot quipped, whipping out a small hologram with a swipe of her fingertips.

With a steady hand (or finger, more so), she scrolled through several doll-sized models of former Gems until she reached a tall, lean-looking Gem, who radiated like the Sun with a dirty golden glow.

Looking up from her screen, Peridot gave a knowing cock of her head and a rather unpleasantly simpering smile. "Does the name _'Amber'_ ring any bells?"

Pearl gave a quiet gasp. "Prime Commander Amber, Leader of the Gem Martial Regime 21st Squadron!" she rattled the name off the top of her head, as though it had been imprinted in her memory. "But...it can't be…she only came to Earth to oversee the production of the Kindergartens, she couldn't have come here for any other purpose! She was _strictly_ a military and business-oriented Gem, not to mention a _total_ libertarian-"

"Not so," Peridot countered, pulling up an assortment of statistics with the gentle swipe of a finger. "It seems that Amber here _did_ _indeed_ come to Earth for business-oriented purposes- a business trip, if you will- but she stayed here due to an irreparable fracturing to her Gem."

"Uhh, but I thought _Rose_ was around during that time," Amethyst pointed out casually, shooting a snide look in Peridot's general direction. "Couldn't she have _healed_ her?"

"_Irreparable," _Peridot reminded her with clenched teeth, narrowing her eyes at the snarky little Gem. "It _appears_ that enough grit must have lodged itself in the crack in her Gem to keep the wound from properly healing."

"But the important thing _is,_" Pearl interrupted, her voice quavering profusely, "_we're_ going to find this Gem before you can! _Our_ warp pads can take us anywhere on Earth in a matter of _seconds-_"

"Good thing they're not on Earth," Peridot quipped, smiling darkly as she brought up a map to the screen.

"They _appear_ to be drifting right now somewhere in the midst of deepest space. Seems rather _convenient_ for a Homeworld Gem like me, no?"

Pearl gave a pretentious gasp. "You wouldn't _dare!"_ she spoke, her voice dripping with contempt. "You _cannot_ corrupt the pure heart of one of our own! Because _we._ _Are. _The _Crystal Ge-"_

The connection fizzled out.

Steven turned, confused, to the others. "So what are we gonna do now?" he asked wisely, raising an eyebrow. "We can't just let her turn them to evil!"

"We're _not,"_ Garnet declared, turning to face the young Gem. She turned to Pearl, who was currently face down, knees to the ground in a state of shock. "Pearl!"

The Gem practically leapt right out of her shoes in surprise. "How fast do you think you can build us a spaceship?"

Pearl made a face. "B-but…the last time I tried to do that, I nearly killed Steven-"

"And that's why_ I_ will oversee the operation this time around."

The Gem bit her lip, giving a soft "hmm" as her eyes darted about the sand. "…Give me about a week, and I _think_ I can get you a spaceship."

"Alrighty then, Gems," Garnet spoke with a confident gleam in her eyes, giving a playful tousle of Steven's curly black hair. "We've got us a Gem to protect."


	2. Dancing with the Stars

Steven bounded off towards the spaceship, backpack in tow, his eyes aglitter at the sight of so many fantastical gizmos and gadgets, and buttons and levers, and switches, and _wonderful_ little toys…

…none of which he could touch, anyway, but they were _amazing_ to look at.

"So we're going to outer space for _real_ this time?" Steven blurted out in a fit of excitement, struggling to tug his luggage up the runway. "We're not going to explode this time?"

"At the very least, it's _highly improbable_ this time around!" Pearl could confirm triumphantly, who seemed nearly _just_ as excited as Steven to go off into space (it _was_ her home, after all).

Pearl gave a quick glance behind her, steady hand on the lever that closed the boarding dock. "Alrighty, is everyone here and ready to go?"

Steven managed to throw himself right in the back seat, just in time to throw on his little pair of aviator goggles, prop his feet up, and join in with the others in a synchronous _"Ready!"_

"_WAIT!"_

Panting his way up the steps came Greg, sweating profusely and travel bag in tow.

"…_ohh… oh my gosh…" _he gasped for air, wiping the sweat off the back of his neck. "…Man, you guys ought to be a little more careful, you almost forgot me!"

"_Ahaha,_ oh Greg, of _course_ we wouldn't forget about _you!"_ Pearl gave a nervous chuckle, ruffling the back of her peachy blonde hair.

But as subtly as she could, she leaned over to Garnet and whispered in a quiet hush, _"What is Greg doing here he shouldn't be here you know how he messes everything up-"_

"Pearl." Garnet seemed rather quiet about the whole ordeal. "He managed to fix the Wailing Stone. He got _something_ right. Give 'im a chance."

Pearl gave an almost sideways glance back at Greg, who was staring back at her with _preposterously_ enormous, glittery eyes (she supposed that's where Steven got his 'Bambi eyes' expression from).

"And besides," Garnet reminded her matter-of-factly, "_you're_ not any better a parental figure than Greg is."

With a brief mental flash of the spaceship incident still lingering heavily in her brain, Pearl gave a groan of quiet acceptance. "Oh, fine, then. Greg can come along, I suppose."

And with Pearl's final say on the situation, Greg came bounding along up the boarding dock, plopping himself down in the seat next to Steven, and they were off, spiraling past the Beach City countryside towards the wide open sky.

With the engines rumbling noisily in the background, Steven gave a cry at the top of his lungs, his pudgy fingers wedged tightly in his ears.

"_PEARLLLLL! MY EARS FEEL FUNNYYYYY!"_

Pearl tried her best to lean back as far as she could towards Steven. "It's nothing to worry about, Steven!" she cried out. "Your ears are just popping from the air pressure! We've broken through the atmosphere is all!"

"_WAIT, SO WE'RE TECHNICALLY IN SPACE NOW?!" _Greg followed Steven in an equally loud voice.

Pearl gave a muffled groan under her breath. "Yes! We're _in space_ now, Greg!"

And sure enough, space was beautiful.

The small little craft found itself twirling drunkenly through a vast sea of glittery stars, tossing up flecks of stardust as it pushed onward towards the darkness.

Steven gave a gasp as he pressed his face to the window, his eyes following the smoky trail of light and sound their ship left trailing behind.

"It's so _beautiful,_" he whispered in a voice full of trembling joy, counting the stars as they passed them by in a glittery ballet.

"_Uhhh…_ so how are we gonna _find_ this other half-Gem, anyway?"

Amethyst finally broke the awe-ridden silence, cocking her head to one side.

Pearl gave a startled gasp. "_Oh!_ Thank _goodness,_ Amethyst, you just reminded me to take _this_ little fella out!"

Steven turned his head over his shoulder. "_What_ little fella?"

"_This!"_ Pearl gestured to a small little Robonoid sitting innocently atop the dashboard. "_This _Robonoid was _originally_ supposed to scan and identify Gems for security measures, _but- _I've reprogrammed it…"

"…_A good fifty feet _outside_ the Beach City area…"_ Pearl muttered quietly under her breath mid-sentence, reminding herself of the time she'd unintentionally shut down all the power to Steven's hometown.

"…So _now,_ it can act as a compass to direct us in the location of the half-Gem!"

She gave a slight tap of the machine with a finger, and with a sudden jerk, it stood upright, systems logging on in the moment of a flash.

"Alrighty, Robonoid, track location of Amber!" Pearl directed it, swiping away a few things on her touchscreen pad. The machine gave a simulated gurgling intone of sorts as it input the directions, and locked itself into the dashboard.

Steadily navigating their way around the icy bends of comets and fallen stars, the Robonoid would occasionally lift a rounded paw in the direction they should be going, the ship leaning alongside the machine in swift synchrony.

Steven's chubby head had been laying against the dashboard in a peaceful slumber, giving a snort and a snore here and there to remind the rest that he was sleeping, when the Robonoid gave out a sudden chirp of attention, shaking the crew to their feet.

Steven gave a cry of surprise, hurriedly wiping a bubble of spit from the corner of his mouth. His attention turned to the Robonoid, which seemed to be going into a frenzied state of shock and sharp trills.

"What is it, little guy?" Steven asked it, cocking his head.

As if in response, the Robonoid pointed with a rounded paw to a large, blue-and-golden spacecraft drifting outside their window.

Steven gave a gasp of excitement. "Guys, look!" he cried happily, pointing at the rusted ship floating outside, minding its own spaceship business. "It's another spaceship!"

Pearl shook her head, leaning against the dashboard. "...Why, _yes it is!" _she exclaimed, her eyes aglitter with an eager yearning of curiosity. "_This_ must be the location of that other Gem Peridot was talking about!"

Amethyst bounded up beside Pearl in a heartbeat, squinting her eyes to read the faded name on the starboard wing.

"_Milano," _Amethyst murmured under her breath, confused if just for a moment.

She gave a sudden snap of her fingers. "Oh, wait, _Milano!_ As in Alyssa Milano! I remember her!"

"_Alyssa Milano?"_ Greg mumbled, cocking his head in thought. "Man, I haven't heard that name in _forever… _wasn't she that one girl on _Who's the Boss?"_

"…'Who's the Boss?'"

"It's an Earth television show," Amethyst explained.

"Oh, well, then I can definitely see where the _human_ side of their genes comes from," Pearl muttered quietly, rolling her eyes. "On another note, we have to get into that spacecraft in order to protect that Gem! Gems, summon your weapons. We're about to board that craft!"

But the Crystal Gems had no idea just who exactly was aboard that craft.


	3. A Ragtag Bunch of A-Holes

Garnet pried open the hatch to the Milano with a mighty fist as the others clambered inside, Steven getting a helping hand from the muscly Gem as he waggled his stubby feet in a meager attempt to get inside.

"Alrighty, Gems," Pearl laid out their mission for them, "here's our plan: we make our way down that hallway, into the main navigation pod, and we face whatever's piloting this craft. Garnet, you lead the charge. Amethyst and I will follow your lead from behind with Steven. Greg, you… hang back. You… _humans _usually don't react well to this stuff. If there's any sign of danger, we attack it. Are we ready, Gems?"

"Ready!" "_Yeah_ we are!"

"Aye-aye, captain!" Steven gave a salute, and off they went, coming in leaps and bounds up the steps, towards the light.

"Whatever's up those stairs better be ready for the Crystal Gems to _kick their butts!" _Amethyst gave a whoop of vicious excitement, yanking her whip out from her gem.

"_Amethyst,_ we're_ not_ going to _attack_ them!" Pearl nagged her on with an exasperated sigh to her voice. "_Only_ if they're _dangerous_ would we attack! _Besides,_ we don't even _know_ what this half-Gem _looks_ like-"

But Pearl was quickly cut off from her yammering at the startling sight of five looming, out-of-place bandits staring them down from the opposite side of the ship.

There was a green she-alien, with silvery sword in hand, a lean, muscle-bound fellow, who was holding a blade to his thigh, a scruffy little raccoon, who looked to be wielding a machine gun and sitting upon a giant tree creature of sorts, and a rugged, tawny blonde man with a red leather longcoat and an old eighties Walkman.

The five of them looking equally confused at the group of she-aliens (with small child in tow) standing opposite them, the raccoon leaned down towards the man from the tree being's shoulder, a deadpan look in his beady little eyes.

"I _told_ you, Peter, you didn't lock the hatch."

Pearl looked absolutely flustered at this point, at the near brink of transitioning into hysterical laughter. Amethyst and Greg merely shot a glance at each other before looking back towards the band of space pirates that stood before them.

Garnet looked to be in a state of shock.

But Steven, of all things, had glittering, twirling stars in his eyes, giving out a gasp of unfiltered excitement, and without a second thought or hesitation in his mind, he bounded right up towards the crew members and gave out a motor-mouthed greeting of appreciation.

"_Hey are you guys space pirates or superheroes or something hi my name's Steven and I-"_

"_STEVEN,_ get _AWAY_ from those… _CRIMINALS!"_ Pearl shouted in a fluster, taking hold of the boy's shoulder to spin him around to face her. "_Steven,_ we're up against an enemy we _don't know._ _They_ could very well _kill_ _you!"_

The raccoon gave a humored scoff at the notion. "_Relax,_ lady, we're not gonna _kill_ the kid_. I may be a criminal, but I ain't gonna sink _that_ low,"_ he added under his breath.

Pearl gave out an inhuman squawk of distress. "The raccoon can _TALK?!"_

"'Course I can, what's the matter with that-"

"Rocket, stop talking, you're weirding them out!" The man gave the creature a cuff to the shoulder, effectively shutting him up. He turned to the Gems, flattening down the back of his hair as it rose.

"Sorry about the raccoon," he apologized with a chuckle, as Rocket gave a silent curse under his breath in the background. "He _really_ doesn't know when to shut the hell up."

He extended a hand out to Steven in greeting. "Name's Peter Quill, but everybody calls me Star-Lord."

As a distant _"No we don't!"_ could be heard in the background, Steven shook Peter's hand with stars in his eyes.

"_M-my name's Steven,"_ Steven murmured in amazement, looking up towards the leather-clad hero. _"Steven Universe."_

Peter gave an amused chuckle. "Steven Universe, huh?" he smiled, leaning to one side. "Pretty cool name you've got there, little dude."

Steven gave a gasp of delight. _"He called me 'cool,'" _he whispered in a state of wonder.

Peter turned to face the rest of the Gems. "Oh, and this is the rest of my outer-space posse. She's Gamora, the muscle guy's Drax, the raccoon over there goes by "Rocket," and _that's_ Groot," he said, pointing to the tree.

"I am Groot," it greeted them, waving at the others.

"_T-the tree can talk too?!"_ Pearl stuttered.

Peter shook his head. "Not _exactly._ All he really says is _'I am Groot.'_ I'm sure it means something, but _honestly,_ only _Rocket_ can understand him."

"It's only because_ you_ idiots can't even take the _time_ to _listen_," Rocket countered with a roll of his eyes. "I don't know about you, but_ I_ can understand Groot just_ fine."_

"_Whatever,"_ Peter brushed him off with a mutter. He turned back to face the Gems. _"So,_ I don't suppose you'll be telling us who you guys are and why you're here?"

"_We're_ the _Crystal Gems!"_ Pearl declared with an air of vain confidence. "An intergalactic band of _noble warriors,_ determined to fend off the forces of evil that rid this planet Earth!"

Steven almost swore he could see the little raccoon rolling his eyes at her show of hamminess.

"_We're_ here to protect a half-Gem that's on board this ship," Garnet explained in a cool voice.

Peter raised his eyebrows. "So you're saying that one of us… is one of _you_ guys?"

"Basically," Amethyst replied with a carefree shrug.

"How do you suppose we single this… 'half-gem' out?" Drax spoke, leaning to one side.

Rocket squinted. "I dunno… Gamora here's kind of green, think she might be one of them?"

The green she-alien shot a look at Rocket, who only bared his teeth in a smug little grin and looked away with a snicker.

"Well, the only surefire way of knowing if they're a Gem, is if they _have_ a gem," Garnet stated, pointing to the bright red gemstones on the palms of her hands.

Peter turned his head. "…You're not suggesting we-"

"_Absolutely not!"_ Pearl blurted out. _"Especially_ not in front of _Steven!"_

"Aw, _c'mon, _Pearl, don't be a _party pooper,"_ Amethyst said, elbowing the slender Gem in the side. Pearl only gave a groan and pushed the cackling Gem away from her.

"There'll be no need for taking off clothes," Garnet interrupted the two. She took the Robonoid from Steven and held it up in front of her. "This Robonoid here can give out a pulse that will activate the gemstone of any Gems present in the room," she explained. She gave a knowing smirk. "This might tickle a bit."

She rubbed the little machine, as though it were a magic lamp of sorts, and it sent out a steady vibration all throughout the room, as each of the Crystal Gems' gemstones lit up, one by one.

Steven gave a chuckle as a bright pink glow emitted from underneath his shirt. _"Aw,_ that _tickles!"_

Pearl turned to Garnet, a hand over her brightly glowing forehead. "Garnet, it looks like we're the only ones reacting to the pulse." She pointed to the Guardians. "I don't see any of _them_ feeling anything!"

Garnet shook her head. "Except for _him,"_ she said, pointing to Peter, who gave a shudder as a steady golden glow could faintly be seen from underneath his jacket.

Steven gave a gasp of excitement. "Star-Lord, look! Your gem is lighting up!"

Peter's eyes widened in confusion. _"…Wha?_ My _gem-GAH!"_

The Terran gave a startled yelp at the sight of the yellow-orange glow peeking out from underneath his shirt.

Peter's mortified stare darted back and forth from the Gems to his chest. "You're telling _me_ my _father _was a _GEM?!"_

Pearl gave a confused glance. "No, it can't be… your Gem parent must have been your _mother,_ see-"

"But, see, here's the thing, my _mom_ was of _Earth,"_ Peter countered with a knowing raise of his eyebrow. _"She_ was _human."_

The Gem shook her head with a sigh, pacing back and forth. "There must be _some explanation_ as to Amber's involvement with your _birth…"_

Her thoughts beginning to drift, Pearl caught herself and turned to look back up at the Terran (or half-Terran, moreso). "Well, in the meantime, Peter, we ought to get started with your training. Why don't we focus on summoning your weapon-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, lady, it's getting late," Peter interrupted her, pointing to a nonexistent watch on his wrist. "Shouldn't we be getting to bed about now?"

"_We_ Gems don't _need_ _sle-"_ Cutting herself off abruptly, Pearl sighed. "Well, I suppose you _non-Gems _on the ship could use a few hours of rest," she supposed. "But we _start_ training _tomorrow._ We _have_ to be ready when the Homeworld Gems come."

Peter turned around abruptly. "Wait, _Homeworld Gems?!"_

Amethyst leaned over her shoulder with a roll of her eyes. "We'll explain tomorrow."

Peter sighed, pulling his scuffed-up leather longcoat off his shoulders.

Sharing the Milano with a bunch of intergalactic female warriors and their human tagalongs was sure to prove an experience to remember.


End file.
